HIST 10613
Kerstetter
Final paper (20% of semester grade)

This assignment serves as the final evaluative exercise for this class.  It asks students to show their command of history as a discipline and their familiarity with U.S. history after 1877.

Chancellor Boschini wishes to assign all incoming first-year students a mass market book on U.S. history so they can gain an appreciation of history as a craft and a foundation in U.S. history for their TCU education.  Boschini has narrowed his choices to  Paul Johnson’s A History of the American People and Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States.  Knowing that students in this class have an intimate knowledge of each book and of the TCU student body, he has requested a detailed recommendation from each class member.  The recommendation should analyze how each historian interprets U.S. history including case studies representing each of three eras:  1877-1914; 1914-1945; and, 1945 to the present.  The recommendation must choose one book and explain that choice.

The recommendation should contain 1500 words (no more than 2000) and should follow the guidelines for formal writing used in this course’s essay assignments.  Submit a hard copy of the essay before 9:10 p.m. on May 6.